Monrovia – On July 28, 2023, the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) named the Chairman of the Governance Commission (GC), Atty. Garrison Yealue on its campaign team as deputy Campaign Manager for Administration.
His selection on the team has been marred by widespread claims with civil society organizations and the media claiming that his appointment violates the Act that created the GC.
What are the Claims?
On July 28, 2023, a Liberian Journalist, ,Nyantee Genero Samuel Togba, took to Facebook and wrote: “The appointment of Governance Commission Chair Garrison Yealue on the CDC campaign team is the violation of the Act creating the Governance Commission section 3.4.
CDC please take note” The post generated 59 comments and 14 reactions.
In another claim on August 1, 2023, the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) claimed in a Press Statement that “the action of the CDC violates several provisions of the 2007 Act creating the Commission, which is required to be independent and politically neutral”.
CENTAL also claimed that the act by the CDC “violates the 2014 Code of Conduct for public officials and its amendment of 2022.”
Two days after CENTAL release the statement, the National Civil Society Council of Liberia (NCSCL), also made its official position regarding the selection of the Governance Commission Chair.
NCSCL, on August 3, 2023, expressed serious disappointment in the latest action by the CDC, claiming that the action “contravenes the ACT establishing the Commission.”
What Do the Laws Say?
An overview of the Governance Commission on its website shows that it has a mandate to “promote (s) good governance by advising, designing and formulating appropriate policies and institutional arrangements and frameworks required for achieving good governance and promoting integrity at all levels of society and within every public and private institution.”
Section 5.3.4 of the Act establishing the entity provides that “thus commissioners must be non-partisan to prevent the governance agenda and process from being a political one”.
We also reviewed Section 5.1 of the Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct or National Code of Conduct (CoC) for all public officials and employees of the Government of Liberia is an Act of the Legislature passed into law in 2014. Section 5.1 (c) states that:
“All Officials appointed by the President of the Republic of Liberia shall not: serve on a campaign team of any political party, or the campaign of any independent candidate.”
Conclusion
After a careful reviewing the law that created the Governance Commission (GC) and the National Code of Conduct for public officials, we conclude that claims that the appointment of the Chairman of the Governance Commission to serve on the campaign team of the CDC is a violation of the Act that created the Commission and the Code of Conduct.
Section 5.3.4 of the Act that establishes the GC provides that “commissioners must be non-partisan to prevent the governance agenda and process from being a political one”, while Section 5.2 of the Code of Conduct also states that “any minister, deputy minister, assistant minister, director general, deputy director general, assistant director general, Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent, and any other official of the Government of Liberia appointed by the President of Liberia pursuant to Article 5 of the Constitution shall resign” before partaking in politics.
Claims about the violation of the law due to the appointment of Atty. Yealue on the campaign team of the CDC are correct.
Local Voices Liberia, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, has implemented the iVerify Liberia system with the objective of strengthening capacities to address threats to information integrity, especially in view of the upcoming 2023 elections, to ensure all Liberian citizens have access to credible, reliable and verified information, everywhere and at all times.
This initiative is funded by Irish Aid, Embassy of Sweden in Monrovia, European Union Delegation in Liberia and the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. The donors have no say in the production of this fact check report.
